Aspen road show with John Hiatt and Brandi Carlile presented by KDNK community radio
Air Dates: Mar 03-Mar 09
eTown goes "on the road" for its first-ever taping in Aspen, Colorado, at the historic Wheeler Opera House. Exquisitely talented singer-songwriter, John Hiatt, makes his return to eTown, and sends out a set of stripped down versions of his always amazingly crafted songs. And another fine performer and stellar singer, Brandi Carlile makes her eTown return, too, along with her talented band. This week's listener-nominated E-Chievement Award goes to a dedicated and engaged citizen, too. Join us in eTown this week for a fantastic broadcast!
Brandi Carlile
Give Up The Ghost, Brandi Carlile's third album, unveils her talents in their truest form. After 2 albums and non-stop touring, she has let her guard down and offers her most candid recording to date. If the phrase 'give up the ghost' most often refers to death or dying, it can also be used to describe the passing of stages in life, of transformation.
After debuting with a self-titled album in 2005, the Washington State-bred Carlile saw her fanbase mushroom with her sophomore disc, The Story. Among the growing legion of Carlile fans is Elton John. 'Brandi has an amazing voice,' he says. 'She's a great songwriter and has a tremendous career ahead of her.'
If she took root in performing songs by the likes of Patsy Cline as a child, Carlile's journey gained traction during her teen years, when she began earning a living as a busker at Pike Place Market in Seattle when not playing in a band. Eventually, she and the Hanseroth twins recorded a collection of songs, for which they had modest hopes. To their surprise, those songs became Brandi Carlile, which sold more than 120,000 copies and spawned the popular single 'What Can I Say.'
Her second album, The Story, upped the ante considerably, selling 313,000 copies and rising to No. 41 on the Billboard albums chart. Several of Carlile's songs have appeared in commercials and on televisions shows such as Grey's Anatomy. Along the way, she's toured with the likes of Ray LaMontagne, and Sheryl Crow, who raved about Carlile's support performances online: 'She has the most amazing voice I may have ever heard. Soulful. Country. Perfect in every way-and propelled by taste.'
With all that encouragement and experience under her belt, when Carlile set out to make Give Up The Ghost, she did so with ample ambition: 'When we recorded The Story, we set up our instruments with one drummer, like a stage, and we treated the record like a show, and we recorded that performance. This is the first time we treated something like a record. We really dug in, and chose musicians, and instruments, and set-ups very specifically to each song. We didn't go halfway on anything.'
John Hiatt
John Hiatt's career has spanned more than 30 years and his songs have been covered by everyone from Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton and BB King to Iggy Pop, Three Dog Night and The Neville Brothers. John Hiatt began his solo career with the 1974 album Hangin' Around the Observatory. Hiatt's landmark 1987 release Bring The Family received critical praise and was his first album to chart in the U.S.
Hiatt's new full-length album, 'The Open Road,' will be released by New West Records on March 2, 2010.
e-chievement award: Auden Schendler Auden is the Executive Director of Sustainability at Aspen Ski Co., and author of Getting Green Done (Public Affairs Books, 2009). At Aspen Ski Co., he oversees that company's significant environmental efforts, corporate contributions, and civic engagement. Auden has been the driving force behind the company's relentless environmental push, including developing the ski industry's first climate policy and the first set of green building guidelines; establishing the first ski-resort supported Environmental Foundation; building the largest solar photovoltaic system in the ski industry and a hydro-electric plant to power some of its operations; and more. He has over 15 years experience as a "sustainable business foot soldier" and environmental researcher and advocate.
